Latino soldiers head home from Iraq to their own ‘new dawns’

New American Media offers a look at the Latino soldiers heading home from Iraq, as the United States transitions out of its military role there. Taken from a Spanish-language story in La Opinion by Antonieta Cadiz, the story explores the Latino experience in Iraq among the Fourth Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Second Infantry Division, out of Washington state.

“The people who are here still go on,” said Army veteran Martha Arenas, who grew up in Mexico and served on a surveillance team in Iraq. “They grow up. Life goes on.”

Meanwhile, the lives of combat troops is altered in significant ways. “It’s hard to go back,” she said.

Most adjust. Some experience painful transitions. Some of those who can’t cope and don’t ask for help can experience thoughts of suicide, a growing problem in the military.

“To those who are returning, I would recommend that they keep their heads up, continue to move forward, be patient with people,” she said. “They don’t understand what we’ve just experienced.”

Arenas was helped by the camaraderie of other Latino soldiers. Five of the 11 members of her surveillance team were Hispanic. “We have very strong roots focused on the family, and when we don’t have (our families) by our side, we look for ways to replace the feeling of brotherhood.”

“We ate together, we got by speaking a little Spanish. Sometimes it wasn’t allowed, because other people couldn’t understand (what we’re saying). But they let us have that kind of contact, because they know we need it.”

Although government figures on how many of Stryker’s 4,000 troops are Latino weren’t offered, the story quoted spokeswoman Catherine Caruso of McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis in Lakewood, where the brigade is based and where troops from Iraq are arriving. “Given the population of Hispanics in the armed forces, I think the probability of finding them in this brigade is high, as is their presence in any large-scale brigade or battalion,” she said.

According to census figures, nearly 12 percent of Army enlistees are Hispanic. This percentage is expected to double by 2020, if the current rate of recruitment continues.